4 yo in to a holiday club

[SpunkyMintZebra]

My daughter got a space in a week long free holiday club next week, it’s 10-3, she’s very attached to me and gets incredibly upset if I leave her somewhere (I rarely do) she has a friend going but he’s 5 and his group will be doing different activities some of the day.
Shes very quiet and shy and although I want to help her build her confidence I’m so nervous about her going, she’ll be incredibly upset when I drop her off and won’t want me to leave her.
If We go to a party or even my sisters house she’ll say ‘are you staying with me?’ I can prep her and explain I’ll be dropping her off next week but when it comes to it, she won’t want me to leave her.
What do I do?? She’s lucky to get in as it’s very popular and I went as a child and loved it (although I wasn’t attached to my parents at all)
She cried at her one hour transition at her primary school when I went to leave even though her cousin who is like a a brother to her was there and lots of friends from her pre school.
Im just stuck on whether it’s worth upsetting her

If she doesn’t need to go then I wouldn’t send her.

Does she need to go to this club for childcare reasons? If not then honestly no I wouldn't be sending her.

Do you need the childcare to work? Or is it just to ‘keep her busy’? If it’s just the latter I honestly wouldn’t bother.

Unless you need the childcare so that you can work, I would not send her. She has 10+ years ahead of her to enjoy clubs

No im not working I’m on maternity leave, I put her down as her cousin was meant to be going too but my sister forgot so he’s not going - I thought they’d enjoy it together.
you are all right and my gut says to not send her

It sounds like she’s never even been to nursery before? My dc we’re both doing 9-5 at 12 months and it was fine. But if she’s never been in a childcare setting before, definitely don’t just plunk her off with strangers for a week. She needs a proper transition to a new setting and adults she trusts there to support her.

Well if you don't need it and it's going to upset her, I wouldn't send her. You don't want her to be having an upsetting experience now when she is starting school in September.
If she's not going to go, tell the organiser today so they can offer the space to someone else

If those are the circumstances I wouldn’t send her. It sounds like it will be stressful for you as well as traumatic for her so you may not even benefit from it much. A waste of money.

Based on this I wouldn't send her. Sounds like its going to cause her great distress and that won't be helpful for her first few days at school. Can you work on leaving her with relatives for short periods of time before school to start preparing her?

My 4yo is going to a similar sounding camp but only 1 day a week, over a few weeks. Might that be more manageable then a full week?

I also emailed and arranged to take DD for a look round and to meet some of the staff a few days before the camp started, which seemed to help.

Do you have a plan in place for school in September? Or was this meant to be prep for that? Either way be very carful, if the separation goes badly, she might struggle even more going into school.

Could she just go 10-lunch? It sounds however that it might actually be hard work for those in charge if she's likely to get upset. Has she not been to nursery?

I'm a reception teacher and I wouldn't send a four year old to a holiday club if I didn't have to for work reasons.

It's nothing like schools because it has to be more relaxed as it's supposed to be enjoyable for the children. They can be quite chaotic which might be scary for a child who hasn't yet started school and isn't used to the hustle and bustle and hasn't been around older children.

In that case I wouldn’t send her. My 3.5YO is in what sounds like a similar camp this week, happy to go as he’s with big sister and lots of other kids he knows, but it’s run by teens and there’s no way they’d deal with an upset child like an experienced nursery or school teacher would.

Probably too much for her atm, given that her whole world has been turned upside down. New school, new sibling, not having mum to herself, new teachers and friends. Probably would be overload and would set her back for school.